Krum Is Replaced As Top Dog At Alpo

May 31, 1990|by DAN SHOPE, The Morning Call

Five days after removing a "for sale" sign from ALPO Petfoods Inc., the chairman of Grand Metropolitan PLC's food division visited the South Whitehall Township company and ordered top management to move out.

Ian A. Martin, who heads American operations for ALPO's parent company, broke the news on Tuesday to Frank Krum, ALPO's president and chief executive officer, and his right-hand man, Willard H. Cressman, senior vice president of finance.

ALPO's 1,500 employees were informed later that day that Krum, 56, was being replaced by Rob Hawthorne, 45, previously president and chief executive officer of Pillsbury Canada.

Krum will serve as a special adviser to Martin on trade and industry relations. Cressman has elected not to stay with the company, a Grand Met spokeswoman said.

"Rob (Hawthorne) is very strong in marketing and management," said Mary Carroll, a spokeswoman for Grand Met. "He knows the United States' food industry. That makes him very good for the job.

"Frank (Krum) will be a special adviser for Ian. It's a significant role."

Krum, Cressman and Hawthorne were unavailable for comment yesterday.

While Hawthorne was busy meeting employees in the Lehigh Valley, Martin was in New York discussing the move with industry analysts.

"I would like to stress that we are firmly committed to ALPO as part of our food sector," Martin said in a statement prepared for analysts in New York. "We will apply the same aggressive strategies and ambitious forecasts that we do in all other parts of the food sector."

Grand Met, with annual sales of $15 billion, has owned Pillsbury Co. since last year, when it completed a $6.68 billion hostile takeover of the Minneapolis-based food company.

At the time of the takeover, ALPO was completing its ninth year as a subsidiary of Grand Met.

But the 54-year-old pet food company was put up for sale on Feb. 8, when Grand Met Chairman Allen Sheppard decided it didn't fit into the conglomerate's plans to focus on its human foods business.

Meanwhile, ALPO spent a record $70 million in promotions and advertising for the introduction of its new cat food this year, including the use of the cartoon character Garfield as "spokescat."